“I think the Yves Edwards fight was a tougher fight for me because
he’s a longtime friend and mentor,” Guillard explained recently on
the Sherdog
Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show.” “To me Yves Edwards is a
legend in this sport. He’s a [lightweight] that’s paid his dues.
He’s making a comeback run at it and he’s dangerous.”

Edwards isn’t near Dunham’s No. 10 lightweight ranking, but
Guillard said his friend and former sparring partner knows his
game. The matchup fell through when Kenny
Florian, Dunham’s opponent, was injured. Guillard was then
moved into the main event against Dunham.

“When I got the call that I was going to be the main event and they
moved me, it was a little less nerve wracking for me,” Guillard
said. “I was a little bit nervous taking the Yves Edwards
fight.”

Guillard made a point to call his opponent dangerous, but he does
not think Dunham should be ranked ahead of him.

“He’s going to be a big stepping stone for me,” Guillard said. “Him
being ranked above me, I kind of shy away from that. I don’t feel
he [should be] ranked above me. I paid my dues in the UFC. He’s
just coming into the UFC. He had a couple of tough fights, but I’ve
been in the game of MMA for 15 years. … He hasn’t fought anybody
like me.”

Dunham is an impressive 4-1 in the UFC, with his only loss coming
to Sean
Sherk via a decision many believe Dunham deserved to win.
Guillard isn’t worried about him, though. He thinks the concern
should be in Dunham’s camp.

“I feel I’m the [lightweight] everybody worries about,” Guillard
said. “I think when these guys get phone calls from Joe Silva or
Dana [White] and they say, ‘Hey, we want you to fight Melvin
Guillard,’ I think guys panic. I honestly think guys fear fighting
me because I’m so athletic and they don’t know what’s going to
happen. If you look at all my fights, none of them are the same. I
explode from anywhere. It’s hard to train for a guy like me. If
he’s banking all his money on he’s going to submit me, then it’s
going to be a long night for Evan Dunham.”

Guillard credits the Greg Jackson camp for his confidence on the
ground. He’s won three straight in the UFC and looks like a
different fighter since joining the team.

“Normally when I would hit the mat under a guy that’s a good
jiu-jitsu artist, I would freak out and panic,” Guillard said. “I
would try to make something happen out of nothing and then get
tapped. Now I’m so poised and so calm. I don’t worry because guys
can’t tap me unless I let them tap me. … When you have a stable of
guys that are as good as the guys that we have in our gym, it helps
me get through that [habit] of saying, ‘I think this guy might beat
me.’ I don’t feel anybody at 155 can beat me. I feel that I am the
best fighter at 155.”